Padma Lakshmi on Spring, Culinary Cup, and Culinary Adventures

Spring has fully arrived in New York, and so has Padma Lakshmi’s flourishing career. “I was walking past Central Park, and the flowers were just stunning—magnolias and cherry blossoms everywhere,” shares the lovely host of “America’s Culinary Cup,” which is set to air its finale next week. Catching up over Zoom, she reflects on the pride she takes in creating a show that’s uniquely hers and the beautiful pieces she sported while filming.

“I’ve always had a passion for jewelry,” Lakshmi, 55, mentions. “Women often purchase jewelry for its sentimental value.” Fans of “Culinary Cup” might have noticed her personal favorites featured in the show. “I’ve collected pieces over the years,” she shares. “There’s this gorgeous cocktail ring from the ’60s I wore in the finale. For a challenge, I donned a topaz necklace I bought in India around 20 to 25 years ago, featuring a sharp oval bezel-cut stone.”

For this photoshoot, Lakshmi opted for a simpler look. “I wanted the jewelry to shine on its own; pairing it with a gown just complicates things,” she muses, thinking back to the number of gowns in her red-carpet appearances over the years. “Until I worked on Taste the Nation, people only saw me in a certain light at award shows. It almost felt like a repetitive cycle; you could identify the year of the Emmys just by the dress I wore. But that version of me feels a bit off now.” She feels most herself when she’s in the kitchen, often without shoes.

Lakshmi describes “Culinary Cup” as a significant milestone in her career. After democratizing gourmet food through shows like Taste the Nation and hosting 19 seasons of Top Chef, she was eager to craft a competition format that truly honored chefs as professionals. “So many cooking shows set chefs up to fail—giving them inadequate tools or forcing them to compete over ingredients,” she explains. “I didn’t want any of that.”

Given creative control, she spent months considering how to innovate within the genre. “I’d be at the gym, and suddenly a brilliant idea would hit me,” she recalls. One of her main goals was to provide contestants with top-notch ingredients to create exceptional dishes. The chefs had access to quail eggs and pheasant eggs, ensuring they had all the protein required, along with organic spices from Burlap & Barrel and some unique flavors that aren’t typically found in the mainstream market.

Lakshmi, who literally authored a book on spices titled “Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs: An Essential Guide to the Flavors of the World,” knows a thing or two about flavorful cooking.

While “Culinary Cup” diverges from “Taste the Nation,” both shows reflect her commitment to celebrating the rich tapestry of ethnic influences on American cuisine. “With Taste the Nation, I definitely had an agenda,” she admits. “In ‘Culinary Cup,’ I provided competitors a platform to express their point of view. For instance, Mexican chef Diana Dávila transformed béchamel by using corn masa, an ingredient indigenous to the Americas instead of ground flour brought by Europeans. It was visually striking, and the political undertones infused creativity made perfect sense.”

Lakshmi seeks out joyful and peaceful moments in her life, often through her work, which serves as a tribute to the idea that food is love. “Crafting beautiful meals is a simple act millions perform daily for their families,” she reflects. She recognizes that not everyone has the same access to ingredients or even the privilege to stroll down the spice aisle in a grocery store.

Originally from India, Lakshmi immigrated to the U.S. with her mother, an oncology nurse, at a young age.

“When I arrived, I was just four years old, so New York has always felt like home,” she remembers. “We lived in Queens and then moved to Manhattan. My mom worked at Sloan Kettering, and there weren’t many Indian grocery stores in the city back then. If you needed certain ingredients, you had to venture to Chinatown or Spanish Harlem, especially for things like tamarind and cilantro, which were hard to find in supermarkets during the ’70s!”

She began her modeling career at 21, breaking ground as the first Indian supermodel, published her first cookbook, “Easy Exotic,” at 29, and hosted “Padma’s Passport” shortly after. This led to a series of travel shows, culinary columns, and the release of six more books. Her latest, “Padma’s All American,” garnered acclaim for showcasing recipes that highlight the adaptability of recent immigrants’ cuisines.

For Lakshmi, New York remains the ultimate culinary playground. “I have a friend, Suketu Mehta, who teaches creative nonfiction at NYU, and once he took me on a foodie tour of the city,” she recounts. “We enjoyed Burmese, Tibetan, Nepali, and Ecuadorian cuisine. He even introduced us to neighborhoods we’d never been to before, noting the diverse range of ethnicities represented in the city.”

“But,” she adds, “other cities also have incredible food scenes. Chicago’s an underrated gem. San Francisco is great too, not to mention Minneapolis with its Hmong restaurants. And the indigenous food movement is really gaining traction,” she remarks, referencing Sean Sherman’s work.

She relishes discovering intimate kitchens that convey a chef’s philosophy. In LA’s Koreatown, “there’s this tiny dining room measuring only 12 by 20 feet where a single older woman runs the whole operation. It’s wonderful, as her perspective shines through her cooking,” she notes. “I often find that women-led kitchens lean towards more specific and detailed choices in ingredients and spices.”

Lakshmi’s daughter, Krishna, now 16, frequently features in her social media posts and red-carpet appearances. Fondly known as “Little Hands” in her childhood, Krishna humorously rolls her eyes at her mother’s cooking efforts, exclaiming, “Can everyone please stop calling me ‘Little Hands’? That’s just so weird,” during a recent cooking segment.

Lakshmi also remains dedicated to her advocacy work. After experiencing challenges with endometriosis, which went untreated until she turned 36, she co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America alongside Dr. Tamer Seckin in 2009. “I’m really pleased to see so many people working tirelessly on this issue,” she states.

Reflecting on her path, Lakshmi appreciates where she finds herself today. “The first few decades of my life were an eventful struggle,” she reflects. “Now, I’d say luck is on my side. Life feels a bit easier, my career is thriving, and I have more agency over my own future. But, then again, control is elusive for all of us,” she muses. “So I try to cherish what I have and really savor it.”